Kim Jong Il Requires Waitresses To Get Facelifts Before Sending Them Abroad To Earn Money For The State

The latest bizarre news from North Korea is that waitresses at all state-owned foreign restaurants must get facelifts.From Daily NK (via Asia Times).

A source with a long history of visits to Pyongyang explained to The Daily NK yesterday, “When I was in Pyongyang last year, I heard from someone related to the North that since the start of the 2000s all waitresses had double eyelid surgery on Kim Jong Il’s instructions,” and added, “It seems that Kim Jong Il places great importance on the appearance of workers in restaurants earning foreign currency.”

According to the source, the target of Kim Jong Il’s requirements includes workers at restaurants within Pyongyang fraternized by foreigners, including Korean and international restaurants in the Yanggakdo and Koryo Hotels, coffee shops and other shops. But it also includes those sent to work in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Yanji), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), the Middle East (Dubai), Nepal, the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Kaesong.

Sources say the girls are mostly young university students born in Pyongyang who receive the surgery for about $17 and are closely watched while abroad.

According to Slate, around 100 North-Korea-owned restaurants worldwide serve delicacies like barbecued cuttlefish, dog meat soup, a mountainous selection of kim chi and uniquely Pyongyang products like bear and ginseng wine for enhanced virility. The prices are steep and all listed in U.S. dollars.